Hunger: The New Solution for Street Harassment

Wouldn’t it be great if, instead of the typical “Hey baby” cat-call, you heard something like this from men on the street: “You know what I’d like to see? A society in which the objectification of women makes way for gender-neutral interactions, free from assumptions and expectations. You go, girl!”

Well, Snickers Australia has discovered a way to make this feminist dream a reality: Keep men hungry.

In a new advertisement, (which you can watch below), the company manages to insult both women and men by showing construction workers cat-calling women on the street in very atypical ways. Instead of sexualized comments, the men are shouting out inspiring messages, such as, “You want to hear a filthy word? Gender bias!”

But here’s the kicker: The end of the ad shows Snickers’ tagline, “You’re not you when you’re hungry.” The point being that if these workers were “themselves,” they’d be misogynistic.

Not only does this ad stereotype men who work in blue-collar fields as dirty cat-callers, but it also makes the thoroughly offensive assertion that men could only respect women in some bizarre, hunger-crazed parallel universe.

“Some guy designed these shoes I use to walk around. Some big man’s business makes a profit, every time I lay my money down… Some guy designed this room I am standing in, while other ones built it with their own tools. Who says I like right angles? These are not my laws, these are not my rules.” -Ani DiFranco

Context is the issue. This is funny and amusing, in a particular context – like when it gives me an avenue to laugh at a bad memory of having experienced the catcalls directed at me. When I shake out of that context, I clearly see the sexism to men who work blue collar positions. As being a feminist is my daily context, and the arena (t.v. ad) is public, I am offended.
Again, in certain moods, seeing it at home in my leisure, I would laugh. This is one of the ironies of life. I wish they would have kept this version as their rough draft and spent more time ‘creating’ something sans sexism for the public sector.

I took the video to mean that the men aren’t themselves and harass women when they ARE hungry. And that eating a Snickers can change that. I thought it was a cute video but I did have a different interpretation.